I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 423 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to expand and clarify the prohibition on provision of misleading or inaccurate caller identification information, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 10, 2017 

Ms. MENG (for herself, Mr. BARTON, and Mr. LANCE) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to expand and 

clarify the prohibition on provision of misleading or inaccurate caller identification information, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Anti-Spoofing Act of 

5 2017’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. SPOOFING PREVENTION. 

2 (a) EXPANDING AND CLARIFYING PROHIBITION ON

3 MISLEADING OR INACCURATE CALLER IDENTIFICATION

4 INFORMATION.— 

5 (1) COMMUNICATIONS FROM OUTSIDE THE

6 UNITED STATES.—Section 227(e)(1) of the Commu7 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227(e)(1)) is 

8 amended by striking ‘‘in connection with any tele9 communications service or IP-enabled voice service’’ 

10 and inserting ‘‘or any person outside the United 

11 States if the recipient is within the United States, 

12 in connection with any voice service or text mes13 saging service’’. 

14 (2) COVERAGE OF TEXT MESSAGES AND VOICE

15 SERVICES.—Section 227(e)(8) of the Communica16 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227(e)(8)) is amend17 ed— 

18 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘tele19 communications service or IP-enabled voice 

20 service’’ and inserting ‘‘voice service or a text 

21 message sent using a text messaging service’’; 

22 (B) in the first sentence of subparagraph 

23 (B), by striking ‘‘telecommunications service or 

24 IP-enabled voice service’’ and inserting ‘‘voice 

25 service or a text message sent using a text mes26 saging service’’; and 


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1 (C) by striking subparagraph (C) and in2 serting the following: 

3 ‘‘(C) TEXT MESSAGE.—The term ‘text 

4 message’— 

5 ‘‘(i) means a message consisting of 

6 text, images, sounds, or other information 

7 that is transmitted to or from a device that 

8 is identified as the receiving or transmit9 ting device by means of a 10-digit tele10 phone number or N11 service code; 

11 ‘‘(ii) includes a short message service 

12 (commonly referred to as ‘SMS’) message 

13 and a multimedia message service (com14 monly referred to as ‘MMS’) message; and 

15 ‘‘(iii) does not include— 

16 ‘‘(I) a real-time, two way voice or 

17 video communication; or 

18 ‘‘(II) a message sent over an IP19 enabled messaging service to another 

20 user of the same messaging service, 

21 except a message described in clause 

22 (ii). 

23 ‘‘(D) TEXT MESSAGING SERVICE.—The 

24 term ‘text messaging service’ means a service 

25 that enables the transmission or receipt of a 


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1 text message, including a service provided as 

2 part of or in connection with a voice service. 

3 ‘‘(E) VOICE SERVICE.—The term ‘voice 

4 service’— 

5 ‘‘(i) means any service that is inter6 connected with the public switched tele7 phone network and that furnishes voice 

8 communications to an end user using re9 sources from the North American Num10 bering Plan or any successor to the North 

11 American Numbering Plan adopted by the 

12 Commission under section 251(e)(1); and 

13 ‘‘(ii) includes transmissions from a 

14 telephone facsimile machine, computer, or 

15 other device to a telephone facsimile ma16 chine.’’. 

17 (3) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.—Section 227(e) 

18 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

19 227(e)) is amended in the heading by inserting 

20 ‘‘MISLEADING OR’’ before ‘‘INACCURATE’’. 

21 (4) REGULATIONS.— 

22 (A) IN GENERAL.—Section 227(e)(3)(A) of 

23 the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

24 227(e)(3)(A)) is amended by striking ‘‘Not 

25 later than 6 months after the date of enactment 


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1 of the Truth in Caller ID Act of 2009, the 

2 Commission’’ and inserting ‘‘The Commission’’. 

3 (B) DEADLINE.—The Commission shall 

4 prescribe regulations to implement the amend5 ments made by this subsection not later than 

6 18 months after the date of enactment of this 

7 Act. 

8 (5) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 

9 by this subsection shall take effect on the date that 

10 is 6 months after the date on which the Commission 

11 prescribes regulations under paragraph (4). 

12 (b) CONSUMER EDUCATION MATERIALS ON HOW TO

13 AVOID SCAMS THAT RELY UPON MISLEADING OR INAC14 CURATE CALLER IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION.— 

15 (1) DEVELOPMENT OF MATERIALS.—Not later 

16 than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, 

17 the Commission, in coordination with the Federal 

18 Trade Commission, shall develop consumer edu19 cation materials that provide information about— 

20 (A) ways for consumers to identify scams 

21 and other fraudulent activity that rely upon the 

22 use of misleading or inaccurate caller identifica23 tion information; and 


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1 (B) existing technologies, if any, that a 

2 consumer can use to protect against such scams 

3 and other fraudulent activity. 

4 (2) CONTENTS.—In developing the consumer 

5 education materials under paragraph (1), the Com6 mission shall— 

7 (A) identify existing technologies, if any, 

8 that can help consumers guard themselves 

9 against scams and other fraudulent activity 

10 that rely upon the use of misleading or inac11 curate caller identification information, includ12 ing— 

13 (i) descriptions of how a consumer 

14 can use the technologies to protect against 

15 such scams and other fraudulent activity; 

16 and 

17 (ii) details on how consumers can ac18 cess and use the technologies; and 

19 (B) provide other information that may 

20 help consumers identify and avoid scams and 

21 other fraudulent activity that rely upon the use 

22 of misleading or inaccurate caller identification 

23 information. 


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1 (3) UPDATES.—The Commission shall ensure 

2 that the consumer education materials required 

3 under paragraph (1) are updated on a regular basis. 

4 (4) WEBSITE.—The Commission shall include 

5 the consumer education materials developed under 

6 paragraph (1) on its website. 

7 (c) GAO REPORT ON COMBATING THE FRAUDULENT

8 PROVISION OF MISLEADING OR INACCURATE CALLER

9 IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Comptroller General of 

11 the United States shall conduct a study of the ac12 tions the Commission and the Federal Trade Com13 mission have taken to combat the fraudulent provi14 sion of misleading or inaccurate caller identification 

15 information, and the additional measures that could 

16 be taken to combat such activity. 

17 (2) REQUIRED CONSIDERATIONS.—In con18 ducting the study under paragraph (1), the Comp19 troller General shall examine— 

20 (A) trends in the types of scams that rely 

21 on misleading or inaccurate caller identification 

22 information; 

23 (B) previous and current enforcement ac24 tions by the Commission and the Federal Trade 

25 Commission to combat the practices prohibited 


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1 by section 227(e)(1) of the Communications Act 

2 of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227(e)(1)); 

3 (C) current efforts by industry groups and 

4 other entities to develop technical standards to 

5 deter or prevent the fraudulent provision of 

6 misleading or inaccurate caller identification in7 formation, and how such standards may help 

8 combat the current and future provision of mis9 leading or inaccurate caller identification infor10 mation; and 

11 (D) whether there are additional actions 

12 the Commission, the Federal Trade Commis13 sion, and Congress should take to combat the 

14 fraudulent provision of misleading or inaccurate 

15 caller identification information. 

16 (3) REPORT.—Not later than 18 months after 

17 the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller 

18 General shall submit to the Committee on Energy 

19 and Commerce of the House of Representatives and 

20 the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Trans21 portation of the Senate a report on the findings of 

22 the study under paragraph (1), including any rec23 ommendations regarding combating the fraudulent 

24 provision of misleading or inaccurate caller identi25 fication information. 


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1 (d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec2 tion, or the amendments made by this section, shall be 

3 construed to modify, limit, or otherwise affect any rule or 

4 order adopted by the Commission in connection with— 

5 (1) the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 

6 1991 (Public Law 102–243; 105 Stat. 2394) or the 

7 amendments made by that Act; or 

8 (2) the CAN–SPAM Act of 2003 (15 U.S.C. 

9 7701 et seq.). 

10 (e) COMMISSION DEFINED.—In this section, the term 

11 ‘‘Commission’’ means the Federal Communications Com12 mission. 

Æ 


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